Korolev is a 20 weight sans serif family based on lettering by an anonymous Soviet graphic designer from the propaganda displays at the Communist Red Square parade in 1937. Named in honor of Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, or Korolëv, considered by many to be the father of practical astronomics.

Tracings done in Illustrator over a photograph featuring this type pinned down some of the basic character shapes. These were imported into FontLab, where the full glyph complement was developed. This became the heavy weight of the family. Next, a thin version was designed, and a five weight family, which included bold, medium and light developed from these two extreme weights.

This was augmented by an italic in five weights, and later condensed and compressed five-weight families were added, keeping to the original geometric composition.

The lower-case was created from scratch, but adheres to the structural logic of the uppercase as closely as possible. The low bowl on the cap R and P were kept, giving an unusual and definite character to the font. A small horizontal crossbar on the upper and lowercase K adds additional uniqueness.

The complete Korolev super-family includes standard, italic, condensed, and compressed versions, each in five weights.

About the designer:

Rian Hughes studied at the LCP in London before working for an advertising agency, i-D magazine, and a series of record sleeve design companies. Under the name Device he now provides design and illustration for the advertising, entertainment, publishing, and media industries. In between assignments, he adds to his phenomenal stable of typeface designs. He has an extensive collection of Thunderbirds memorabilia, a fridge full of vodka, and a stack of easy listening albums which he plays very quietly.